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How to Speak 
Without Notes 


BY 

GRENVILLE KLEISER 

A 

Formerly Instructor in Public Speaking at Yale Divinity 
School , Yale University. Author of “How to Speak 
in Public,” “ Great Speeches and How to Make 
Them,” “Complete Guide to Public Speak- 
ing,” “ How to Build Mental Power” 

“ Talks on Talking,” etc., etc. 



FUNK k WAGNALLS COMPANY 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

1919 


TIM 4mi 

. K'bir 

CopJ ?> 


Copyright, 1920, by 
GRENVILLE KLEISER 
[Printed in the United States of America J 
Published, February, 1820 



Copyright Under the Articles of the Copyright Convention 
of the Pan-American Republics and the United States, 
August 11, 1910 


©CI.A566691 


PREFACE 


Speaking without notes does not im- 
ply lack of careful preparation. On the 
contrary it demands the most pains- 
taking study and practise. 

The highly successful public speaker 
owes his power largely to long investiga- 
tion, observation, reading, writing, and 
meditation. He speaks spontaneously 
from a mind furnished with a large fund 
of useful and available knowledge. 

Conversation offers one of the best 
opportunities for practise in extempor- 
aneous speech. Discrimination in the 
choice and collocation of words, the de- 
liberate assembling of ideas in clear and 
logical order, and the sincere endeavor 
to persuade others in daily intercourse, 
have a specific and beneficial influence 
upon one’s style in public speaking. 


v 


PREFACE 


The speaker must write much, as the 
ancients constantly recommended, in 
order to develop clarity of statement 
and felicity of language. The royal road 
to effective extemporaneous address is 
by way of long and arduous prepara- 
tion. 

Grenville Kleiser. 

New York City, 

August, 1919. 

I 

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m\ 

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bit/5 

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99/19 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface v 

How to Speak Without Notes. ... 9 

How to Deliver a Speech 47 

Special Extracts for Reading. ... 85 

Quintillian ’s Secrets of Oratory. 99 

The Art of Eloquence 125 

Voice-Building Exercises 153 



HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT 

NOTES 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT 
NOTES 


It should be the ultimate aim of every 
earnest student of the art of public 
speaking to speak without notes. There 
is a widespread prejudice against the 
use of manuscript, excepting on rare 
occasions when it is obviously indis- 
pensable. 

Extempore speaking confers many ad- 
vantages upon a speaker, such as the 
free use of his hands and arms for pur- 
poses of gesture, an uninterrupted eye- 
to-eye communication with his audience, 
an opportunity of readily adapting his 
language to the particular mood or intel- 
ligence of his hearers, as well as of 
meeting new and unexpected conditions, 
and of introducing vital ideas which are 
11 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

generated by the heat of actual dis- 
course. 

Essential Qualifications for 
Extempore Speaking 

There are three essential qualifica- 
tions for speaking without notes: 

1. A thorough grasp of the subject . — 
No man can hope to give free rein to all 
his powers of mind and expression un- 
less he is fully informed of that about 
which he intends to speak. He must 
spend hours or days, if need be, in 
earnest research. He must exhaust 
every reasonable resource at his com- 
mand, so that at length he will have the 
assurance of knowing the facts of his 
subject. 

2. Long practise in writing . — It has 
been the custom of all successful ex- 
temporaneous speakers to write much. 
Writing is the great modeler of thought 

12 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


and style. Cicero recommended his 
students of oratory to form the habit of 
constant and diligent composition. As 
that which is carefully meditated is likely 
to be superior to unpremeditated state- 
ment, so a speaker acquires through the 
regular use of his pen a clearness and 
compactness of style which serves him 
well when he speaks at the call of the 
moment. 

3. A proper degree of self-confidence. 
— Generally this is acquired through 
actual experience in public speaking. 
Many men, because of their natural tem- 
perament, must pass through a prelim- 
inary stage of so-called stage fright or 
platform fear before they can secure 
proper control of their speaking powers. 
Experience and perseverance, however, 
often produce in such men the highest 
types of public speakers. This is due 
to the fact that the man of nervous tern- 


13 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


perament, when such nervous force is 
brought under control, usually makes 
the best speaker. 

The foundation of a speaker’s self- 
confidence is in having full possession 
of the facts concerning his subject. Next 
he should know how to present such facts 
in an interesting manner. A habit of de- 
liberateness in daily conversation will 
be of immense value in cultivating a full 
degree of self-confidence. 

All the suggestions of this book should 
be carefully studied with a view to 
speaking ultimately without notes or 
manuscript of any kind. A clear under- 
standing and earnest application of the 
various suggestions will yield practical 
and gratifying results. 

The Preparation of a Speech 

Thorough preparation of a speech is 
essential to its success. Obviously you 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

must first make judicious choice of a 
subject and have an accumulation of 
ideas sufficient to make such a subject 
of interest and value to an audience. 

You can safely assume that the aver- 
age audience is fairly well informed 
upon leading questions of the day. 
Owing to wide circulation of newspapers 
and magazines, most persons have 
formed opinions and judgments upon a 
variety of subjects. To convince and 
persuade them to your way of thinking, 
you must have a superior grasp of your 
subject and know how to present it to 
them in an attractive way. 

When you have gathered together 
adequate material for a speech, pre- 
sumably in the form of rough notes, the 
next step is to make a plan for writing 
it out in the most logical and effective 
order. 


15 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK 
YOURSELF 

At this stage it will be helpful for you 
to consider carefully the following ques- 
tions : 

1. What is the principal object or pur- 
pose of my speech? Is it to instruct, 
inform, entertain, or persuade? 

2. What will be the general character 
of the audience ? Will they be friendly, 
critical, interested, indifferent, or antag- 
onistic? 

3. What ideas will probably be most 
effective in arousing interest at the be- 
ginning of the speech? 

4. How can I best sustain the inter- 
est of the audience throughout the 
speech? 

5. At what particular places in the 
speech should I introduce climactic 
effects? 

6. What special means should I take — 

16 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

use of story, illustration, mental picture, 
personal experience, historical fact, sta- 
tistical record, quotation, or authority — 
in order to carry special conviction to 
the audience? 

7. What should be the character of 
the conclusion to the speech? Appeal, 
statement, warning, prophecy, illustra- 
tion, recapitulation? 

When you have carefully thought out 
these vital questions and answered them 
to your satisfaction, your subject matter 
will more readily fall into natural and 
logical order as you put your pen to 
paper. 

IMPORTANCE OF PROPER WRITING 
MATERIALS 

But here let me say something as to 
your writing materials. To be a good 
workman, you must have good tools. 
Provide yourself with a large note-book 
with ample lines. Have sharp pencils 
17 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


of good quality, or pens suitable to your 
style of writing, also good ink and blot- 
ting paper. 

When you have proper tools with 
which to do your work, your mind will 
not be constantly diverted nor disturbed 
by annoyances commonly due to poor 
equipment. You will then do your writ- 
ing with a sense of comfort and satis- 
faction. 

Write on a solid table or desk. There 
is nothing more distressing to a writer 
than to work at a wobbly table or a dis- 
orderly desk. Try to establish the most 
favorable conditions possible for the 
work of composing your speech. 

RULES FOR CLEARNESS OF 
EXPRESSION 

Here let me caution you to confine 
yourself to plain, simple English words 
in your composition. As you take up 
18 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

your pen to write, keep these guiding 
rules in mind: Be simple and natural. 
Use plain words which everyone will un- 
derstand. Write out your ideas clearly 
and concisely. Constantly aim at sim- 
plicity and directness of style. 

Permit nothing to enter into the com- 
position of your speech merely for out- 
ward effect. Let sincerity be the key- 
note of all your work. Stimulate your 
best and deepest thoughts into use. 

There are various ways in which to 
begin a speech, depending somewhat 
upon the subject and the occasion. You 
can get valuable help in this matter by 
examining successful speeches of others. 

The following examples illustrate the 
possible modes of introductory sen- 
tences. You can begin with a reference 
to the occasion, a personal experience, 
story, illustration, quotation, historical 
fact, or other appropriate thought. 

19 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


EXAMPLES OF INTRODUCTORY 
SENTENCES 

‘ 4 Some years ago a distinguished man 
made a significant statement. ,, 

‘ 4 History has many heroes whose mar- 
tial renown has fired the world.” 

“Through the generous impulse of 
your committee I enjoy the privilege of 
addressing you.” 

“There is a characteristic saying of 
Dr. Johnson: ‘Patriotism is the last 
refuge of a scoundrel.’ ” 

“I gratefully acknowledge your cour- 
tesy in asking me to speak to you. ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ This day belongs not to America, but 
to the world.” 

“I offer no apology for speaking upon 
a religious theme, for it is the most uni- 
versal of all themes. ’ ’ 

“Two portentous perils threaten the 
safety, if they do not endanger the ex- 
istence, of the republic.” 

20 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


“ Every one has asked himself the 
great question of antiquity as of the 
modern world: ‘What is the summum 
bonum — the supreme good?’ ” 

“I must confess to you that I came 
here with very serious thoughts this 
evening . 9 9 

“It is a great advantage in this coun- 
try, I think, that we have no lack of am- 
ple criticism. ,, 

“What was Lincoln’s mysterious 
power, and whence?” 

“The past rises before me like a 
dream. ’ ’ 

“In addressing you to-day, I am 
warmed by the enthusiastic welcome 
which you have been pleased to accord 
to me.” 

HOW YOU SHOULD WRITE OUT AND 
REVISE YOUR SPEECH 

As you write out your speech, keep 
before you a mental picture of your au- 
21 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

dience, and write as you think a good 
speaker would talk to them. 

What will please, convince, and per- 
suade a single person in conversation, 
will be likely to have the same effect 
upon a number of people. 

Remember that you are not writing 
ah essay, but a speech. Recognize the 
radical difference between the two. An 
essay is chiefly intended for the eye; a 
speech for the ear. An essay is formal, 
precise, and literary; a speech should 
have the ease, naturalness, and spon- 
taneity of conversation. 

The way in which you now proceed 
to write out your speech in full will de- 
pend upon your own temperament. You 
may write rapidly or slowly according 
to your habit. If you already have * ‘ the 
faculty of taking infinite pains” so 
much the better. But whatever method 
you adopt, the principal thing is to write 
22 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


your speech out in full, so that you may 
have it before you as a whole for careful 
analysis and revision. 

After writing the first draft of your 
speech, it is advisable, if time permits, to 
lay it aside for a day or two, so that you 
may approach it freshly when you are 
about to revise it. By this means you 
are more likely to detect faults and to 
observe specific ways for improving your 
composition. 

As you examine the various parts of 
the speech you have written, ask: “Is 
this clear?” “Is this forceful?” “Is 
this appropriate ?” “Is this desirable?” 
“Can this be improved ?” “Should this 
be expunged?” “Is this true?” “Can 
this be confirmed?” “Will this please, 
interest, convince, persuade?” “Will 
this cause offense?” 

Wherever you think it desirable, sub- 
stitute simple words for long ones. Re- 
23 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


cast every phrase or sentence where you 
think improvement is possible. Be ready 
to strike out entire paragraphs if neces- 
sary. Be willing to relinquish cherished 
ideas if by so doing you can improve the 
general character of your speech. 

Then write out a second draft of your 
speech, and if convenient again lay it 
aside for a day or two. Repeat the 
process of examination and revision. 
Later you will realize the value and im- 
portance of this thorough preparation 
of the manuscript of your speech, and 
continued practise of this kind will sim- 
plify your actual work of speech-making. 

READ YOUR SPEECH ALOUD 

Now that the composition of your 
speech is practically completed, read it 
aloud to test its i 4 speaking quality .’ 9 
Does it fit the mouth well? Does your 
ear detect anything that should be 
24 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

changed or eliminated? Incidentally, 
through this practise the matter of your 
speech will be more deeply imprest upon 
your mind. 

HOW WRITING YOUR SPEECH WILL 
HELP YOU 

You will derive many benefits from 
the practise of carefully writing out 
your speeches in full, regardless of the 
special method of delivery you may sub- 
sequently adopt. 

Writing will clarify your ideas by ex- 
posing to view haziness and indefinite- 
ness in conception. It will develop a 
discriminating taste for choosing the 
right word and putting it in the right 
place. 

Writing will help you to group to- 
gether closely related ideas , and promote 
order, lucidity, regularity, and compact- 
ness of thought. It will train you to 
25 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

scrutinize your facts and opinions, and 
to be intelligently critical with yourself. 

Writing will develop the reasoning 
faculty and the habit of arranging your 
thoughts in logical sequence. It will in- 
crease your power of concentration, and 
bring out many new and unsuspected 
ideas. 

Writing will give you special oppor- 
tunity for analyzing and revising your 
thought. When you have your entire 
subject before you in concrete form you 
can more readily judge its quality and 
structure. 

Writing will aid materially in im- 
pressing your speech upon your mem- 
ory. It will prove a valuable aid in call- 
ing to mind, at the moment of speaking, 
actual words and phrases which you 
have visualized through the process of 
writing. 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


The Art of Extempore Speaking 

In his celebrated treatise on The Art 
of Extempore Speaking, Bautain urges 
the importance of writing out a speech, 
for two chief reasons : 

“The first is, that you thus possess 
your subject better, and accordingly you 
speak more closely and with less risk 
of digressions. The second is, that when 
y ou write down a thought you analyze it. 
The division of the subject becomes 
clear, becomes determinate, and a crowd 
of things which were not before per- 
ceived present themselves under the pen. 
Speaking is thinking aloud, but it is 
more; it is thinking with method and 
more distinctly, so that in uttering your 
idea you not only make others under- 
stand it, but you understand it better 
yourself while spreading it out before 
your own eyes and unfolding it by words. 

27 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


Writing adds more still to speech, giving 
it more precision, more fixity, more 
strictness, and by being forced more 
closely to examine what you wish to 
write down, you extract bidden relations, 
you reach greater depths, wherein may 
be disclosed rich veins or abundant lodes. 
We are able to declare that one is never 
fully conscious of all that is in one’s 
own thought, except after having written 
it out.” 

The cardinal need in the public 
speaker is not that he be clever or 
merely fluent in speech, but that he 
be primarily a man of quality and 
original power. All the elements which 
comprise greatness of character, — sim- 
plicity, sincerity, integrity, courage, no- 
bility, — are reflected in a man’s speech 
and unmistakably disclosed to his fel- 
low men. 

Hamilton Wright Mabie has well said 
28 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

that “The man who speaks often without 
constant and arduous preparation runs 
shallow in thought and becomes com- 
monplace in expression; the man who 
writes without tireless preparation of 
mind and spirit through reading, obser- 
vation, and meditation, loses freshness, 
originality, and force and becomes a 
mere maker of sentences.” 

I urge you, therefore, to read much, 
in order to furnish your mind with use- 
ful and elevated ideas, and to write 
much, that you may acquire a facile use 
of English style. 

Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk 

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF 
SPEECHES YOU STUDY 

Read aloud, two or three times, the 
speech which follows. Then close the 
book and write out an epitome of the 
speech in your own words. Try to recall 
29 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

the principal ideas in their order, and 
to express them with lucidity and con- 
ciseness. Use the best words you can 
command. 

Then compare your composition with 
the original, and endeavor to see for 
yourself wherein your thought and style 
are lacking. Repeat this exercise at con- 
venient intervals, selecting for your text 
paragraphs and pages from other 
speeches and standard writers. This 
practise will give you surprizing facil- 
ity in preparing your own compositions. 

This speech on 4 ‘The Death of Abra- 
ham Lincoln,” was delivered by Henry 
Ward Beecher, in Brooklyn, N. Y., April 
16, 1865. It is a rare example of im- 
passioned eloquence, with its touching 
pathos and dramatic fervor. The per- 
sonality of the speaker stamps the en- 
tire speech with power and amplitude. 

It will be highly beneficial to you to 
ao 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

analyze the speech in detail, and to note 
how the speaker draws freely upon his 
vast fund of knowledge. Note particu 
larly the use of pithy sentences, of 
arrow-like directness. Observe the maj- 
esty of the paragraph beginning, “And 
now the martyr is moving in triumphal 
march mightier than when alive.” Com- 
mit striking passages to memory. 

Be sure of the pronunciation of the 
words: Horizon , stanched, dishevelling, 
Leviathan, tremendous, hovel, requiem, 
and martyr. 

The last paragraph but one, begin- 
ning, “And now the martyr is moving 
in triumphal march,” requires a full- 
toned voice, with a slight swell on some 
of the long vowel sounds. The delivery 
here should be very deliberate, and the 
pausing varied so as to bring out the 
significance of each thought. 


31 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


SPEECH FOR STUDY 

THE DEATH OF LINCOLN 

Again a great leader of the people has 
passed through toil, sorrow, battle, and 
war, and come near to the promised land 
of peace, into which he might not pass 
over. Who shall recount our martyr’s 
sufferings for this people? Since the 
November of 1860, his horizon has been 
black with storms. By day and by night, 
he trod a way of danger and darkness. 
On his shoulders rested a government 
dearer to him than his own life. At its 
integrity millions of men were striking 
at home. Upon this government foreign 
eyes lowered. It stood like a lone island 
in a sea full of storms, and every tide 
and wave seemed eager to devour it. 
Upon thousands of hearts great sorrows 
and anxieties have rested, but not on one 
such, and in such measure, as upon that 
32 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

simple, truthful, noble soul, our faithful 
and sainted Lincoln. Never rising to 
the enthusiasm of more impassioned 
natures in hours of hope, and never sink- 
ing with the mercurial in hours of defeat 
to the depths of despondency, he held on 
with unmovable patience and fortitude, 
putting caution against hope, that it 
might not be premature, and hope 
against caution, that it might not yield 
to dread and danger. He wrestled cease- 
lessly, through four black and dreadful 
purgatorial years, wherein God was 
cleansing the sin of his people as by fire. 

At last, the watcher beheld the gray 
dawn for the country. The mountains 
began to give forth their forms from 
out the darkness, and the East came 
rushing toward us with arms full of joy 
for all our sorrows. Then it was for him 
to be glad exceedingly that had borrowed 
immeasurably. Peace could bring to no 
33 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


other heart such joy, such rest, such 
honor, such trust, such gratitude. But 
he looked upon it as Moses looked upon 
the promised land. Then the wail of a 
nation proclaimed that he had gone 
from among us. Not thine the sorrow, 
but ours, sainted soul. Thou hast, in- 
deed, entered the promised land, while 
we are yet on the march. To us remains 
the rocking of the deep, the storm upon 
the land, days of duty and nights of 
watching; but thou art sphered high 
above all darkness and fear, beyond all 
sorrow and weariness. Rest, 0 weary 
heart! Rejoice exceedingly, thou that 
has enough suffered ! Thou hast beheld 
him who invisibly led thee in this great 
wilderness. Thou standest among the 
elect. Around thee are the royal men 
that have ennobled human life in every 
age. Kingly art thou, with glory on thy 
brow as a diadem. And joy is upon thee 
34 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


for evermore. Over all this land, over 
all the little cloud of years that now from 
thine infinite horizon moves back as a 
speck, thou art lifted up as high as the 
star is above the clouds that hide us, but 
never reach it. In the goodly company 
of Mount Zion thou shalt find that rest 
which thou hast sorrowing sought in 
vain ; and thy name, an everlasting 
name in heaven, shall flourish in fra- 
grance and beauty as long as men shall 
last upon the earth, or hearts remain, 
to revere truth, fidelity, and goodness. 
Never did two such orbs of experience 
meet in one hemisphere, as the joy and 
the sorrow of the same week in this land. 
The joy was as sudden as if no man had 
expected it, and as entrancing as if it 
had fallen a sphere from heaven. It 
rose up over sobriety, and swept busi- 
ness from its moorings, and ran down 
through the land in irresistible course. 

35 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

Men embraced each other in brotherhood 
that were strangers in the flesh. They 
sang, prayed, or deeper yet, many could 
only think thanksgiving and weep glad- 
ness. That peace was sure ; that govern- 
ment was firmer than ever ; that the land 
was cleansed of plague; that the ages 
were opening to our footsteps, and we 
were to begin a march of blessings ; that 
blood was stanched, and scowling enmi- 
ties were sinking like storms beneath the 
horizon; the dear fatherland, nothing 
lost, much gained, was to rise up in 
unexampled honor among the nations 
of the earth — these thoughts, and that 
indistinguishable throng of fancies, and 
hopes, and desires, and yearnings, that 
filled the soul with tremblings like the 
heated air of midsummer days — all these 
kindled up such a surge of joy as no 
words may describe. 

In one hour joy lay without a pulse, 
36 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


without a gleam or breath. A sorrow 
came that swept through the land as 
huge storms sweep through the forest 
and field, rolling thunder along the sky, 
dishevelling the flowers, daunting every 
singer in thicket or forest, and pouring 
blackness and darkness across the land 
and up the mountains. Did ever so many 
hearts, in so brief a time, touch two such 
boundless feelings? It was the utter- 
most of joy; it was the uttermost of sor- 
row — noon and midnight, without a 
space between. 

The blow brought not a sharp pang. 
It was so terrible that at first it stunned 
sensibility. Citizens were like men 
awakened at midnight by an earthquake 
and bewildered to find everything that 
they were accustomed to trust, wavering 
and falling. The very earth was no 
longer solid. The first feeling was the 
least. Men waited to get straight to 
37 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


feel. They wandered in the streets as if 
groping after some impending dread or 
undeveloped sorrow, or some one to tell 
them what ailed them. They met each 
other as if each would ask the other, 
“Am I awake, or do I dream V’ There 
was a piteous helplessness. Strong men 
bowed down and wept. Other and com- 
mon griefs belonged to some one in 
chief ; this belonged to all. It was each 
and every man ’s. Every virtuous house- 
hold in the land felt as if its first-born 
were gone. Men were bereaved and 
walked for days as if a corpse lay un- 
buried in their dwellings. There was 
nothing else to think of. They could 
speak of nothing but that; and yet of 
that they could speak only falteringly. 
All business was laid aside. Pleasure 
forgot to smile. The city for nearly a 
week ceased to roar. The great Levia- 
than lay down, and was still. Even 
38 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

avarice stood still, and greed was 
strangely moved to generous sympathy 
and universal sorrow. Rear to his name 
monuments, found charitable institu- 
tions, and write his name above their 
lintels ; but no monument will ever equal 
the universal, spontaneous, and sublime 
sorrow that in a moment swept down 
lines and parties, and covered up ani- 
mosities, and in an hour brought a di- 
vided people into unity of grief and 
indivisible fellowship of anguish. . . . 

This nation has dissolved — but in 
tears only. It stands four-square, more 
solid to-day than any pyramid in Egypt. 
This people are neither wasted, nor 
daunted, nor disordered. Men hate 
slavery and love liberty with stronger 
hate and love to-day than ever before. 
The government is not weakened, it is 
made stronger. How naturally and easily 
were the ranks closed! Another steps 
39 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

forward, in the hour that the one fell, 
to take his place and his mantle; and I 
avow my belief that he will be found a 
man true to every instinct of liberty; 
true to the whole trust that is reposed 
in him; vigilant of the Constitution; 
careful of the laws ; wise for liberty, in 
that he himself, through his life, has 
known what it was to suffer from the 
stings of slavery, and to prize liberty 
from bitter personal experiences. 

Where could the head of government 
in any monarchy be smitten down by 
the hand of an assassin, and the funds 
not quiver or fall one-half of one per 
cent? After a long period of national 
disturbance, after four years of drastic 
war, after tremendous drafts on the re- 
sources of the country, in the height and 
top of our burdens, the heart of this 
people is such that now, when the head 
of government is stricken down, the pub- 
40 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

lie funds do not waver, but stand as the 
granite ribs in our mountains. 

Republican institutions have been vin- 
dicated in this experience as they never 
were before; and the whole history of 
the last four years, rounded up by this 
cruel stroke, seems, in the providence 
of God, to have been clothed, now, with 
an illustration, with a sympathy, with an 
aptness, and with a significance, such as 
we never could have expected nor imag- 
ined. God, I think, has said, by the voice 
of this event, to all nations of the earth, 
“Republican liberty based upon true 
Christianity, is firm as the foundation 
of the globe / ’ 

Even he who now sleeps has, by this 
event, been clothed with new influence. 
Dead, he speaks to men who now will- 
ingly hear what before they refused to 
listen to. Now his simple and weighty 
words will be gathered like those of 
41 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


Washington, and your children and your 
children’s children shall be taught to 
ponder the simplicity and deep wisdom 
of utterance which, in their time, passed, 
in party heat, as idle words. Men will 
receive a new impulse of patriotism for 
his sake and will guard with zeal the 
whole country which he loved so well. 
I swear you, on the altar of his memory, 
to be more faithful to the country for 
which he has perished. They will, as 
they follow his hearse, swear a new 
hatred to that slavery against which he 
warred, and which, in vanquishing him, 
has made him a martyr and a conqueror. 
I swear you, by the memory of this 
martyr, to hate slavery with an unap- 
peasable hatred. They will admire and 
imitate the firmness of this man, his in- 
flexible conscience for the right, and yet 
his gentleness, as tender as a woman’s, 
his moderation of spirit, which not all 
42 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

the heat of party could inflame, nor all 
the jars and disturbances of his country 
shake out of place. I swear you to an 
emulation of his justice, his moderation, 
and his mercy. You I can comfort; but 
how can I speak to that twilight million 
to whom his name was as the name of an 
angel of God? There will be wailing in 
places which no minister shall be able to 
reach. When in hovel and in cot, in wood 
and in wilderness, in the field through- 
out the South, the dusky children, who 
looked upon him as that Moses whom 
God sent before them to lead them out 
of the land of bondage, learn that he has 
fallen, who shall comfort them? 0, thou 
Shepherd of Israel, that didst comfort 
thy people of old, to thy care we commit 
the helpless, the long-wronged and 
grieved. 

And now the martyr is moving in 
triumphal march, mightier than when 
43 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


alive. The nation rises up at every 
stage of his coming. Cities and States 
are his pall-bearers, and the cannon 
beats the hours with solemn progression. 
Dead, dead, dead, he yet speaketh. Is 
Washington dead? Is Hampden dead? 
Is David dead? Is any man that ever 
was fit to live dead? Disenthralled of 
flesh, and risen in the unobstructed 
sphere where passion never comes, he 
begins his illimitable work. His life now 
is grafted upon the infinite, and will be 
fruitful as no earthly life can be. Pass 
on, thou that hast overcome. Your sor- 
rows, 0 people, are his peace. Your 
bells and bands and muffled drums sound 
triumph there. Pass on. 

Four years ago, 0 Illinois, we took 
from your midst an untried man and 
from among the people. We return him 
to you a mighty conqueror. Not thine 
any more, but the nation’s; not ours, 
44 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

but the world’s. Give him place, 0 ye 
prairies. In the midst of this great con- 
tinent his dust shall rest, a sacred treas- 
ure to myriads who shall pilgrim to that 
shrine to kindle anew their zeal and pa- 
triotism. Ye winds that move over the 
mighty places of the West, chant his 
requiem. Ye people, behold a martyr 
whose blood, as so many articulate 
words, pleads for fidelity, for law, for 
liberty. 


45 












* 





























I 




































































HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 












HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 


Dismiss from your mind all thought 
of making “a great oration.” The na- 
tural basis for an effective extempor- 
aneous speech is that of good conversa- 
tion. Let your purpose be to talk directly 
and sincerely to your audience and you 
will escape many of the difficulties and 
disappointments of ambitious public 
speakers. 

Cardinal Principles of Good Delivery 

When you rise to speak, assume an 
easy standing position. One foot should 
be slightly in advance of the other, the 
knees straight, the head erect but not 
stiff, and the arms relaxed at the sides. 

Obviously, you must make yourself 
49 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

easily heard and understood in order 
to carry conviction to your hearers. It 
is of first importance, therefore, that 
you articulate distinctly and naturally. 
This implies that you have already 
practised reading aloud, with special 
regard to clear enunciation, and that the 
organs of speech can be trusted to do 
their work properly without conscious 
effort on your part. 

Your speaking voice, too, has presum- 
ably been cultivated, through judicious 
daily practise, so that it has adequate 
power, flexibility, agreeableness, and 
resonance. A well-trained voice is an 
indispensable ally of the successful pub- 
lic speaker. 

GETTING THE RIGHT BEGINNING 

At the beginning of your speech, it 
may be necessary for you, especially if 
the audience is a large one, to give a 
50 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 


moment's thought to your enunciation 
and volume of voice, to assure yourself 
that you are properly adapting them to 
the particular occasion. 

Experience in public speaking will 
train you instinctively to measure the 
space you are to fill. You will know how 
to adapt the volume of your voice to the 
size of the audience. You will find it of 
advantage to look at the most distant 
person in the audience and address 
yourself to him. 

Begin your speech in deliberate style. 
Look directly in front of you and speak 
as one having something of interest and 
importance to say. Be gracious and dig- 
nified. Favor the low keys of your voice. 
Give the unmistakable impression of 
‘ ‘ thinking on your feet," by speaking 
slowly and thoughtfully. Use no action 
at the beginning of your speech. 


51 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


WARMING UP TO YOUR SUBJECT 

As you enter more deeply into your 
subject, your voice, manner, and deliv- 
ery will gradually increase in earnest- 
ness and intensity. You will introduce 
an occasional gesture where it will serve 
to elucidate or emphasize an important 
idea. But always use gesture and action 
in moderation. 

There are climactic parts in an im- 
portant speech, where your delivery 
should be impassioned and your fullest 
and best powers brought into use. Care- 
fully consider such effects in advance, 
and in no case permit yourself to exceed 
the bounds of naturalness. 

A speech should be progressive, both 
in thought and delivery. As you ad- 
vance from one point to another, let your 
voice and action correspondingly in- 
crease in scope and power. Make your 
52 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

audience feel that they are being carried 
forward to a definite purpose or decision. 

HOW TO END YOUR SPEECH 

The manner of the conclusion of your 
speech will depend upon the nature of 
your subject and the purpose you wish 
to achieve. It may be rapid and intense, 
as in a clarion call to action, or it may 
be the slow and subdued tones of inti- 
mate personal appeal. 

As a usual thing the closing words of 
a speech are to be spoken in gradually 
slower style, which in itself carries the 
suggestion of concluding. But when you 
have thus conveyed to your audience the 
impression of ending your speech, do not 
permit yourself to continue with “one 
word more.” 

Having delivered your speech, sit 
down quietly, and at the first opportun- 
ity rest yourself. Avoid unnecessary 
53 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

conversation immediately afterward. 
Relax as much as possible. If your 
speech has been delivered with earnest- 
ness, your mind and body need rest. 

This is a general outline of the way in 
which to deliver a speech. There are 
other things, however, which enter vi- 
tally into the success of a speech, and to 
these I now ask your careful attention. 

The Secrets of Successful Delivery 

1. Use your full powers of breathing. 
— Many speakers breathe from only the 
upper part of the chest. This habit of 
superficial breathing unduly taxes the 
speaker and leads easily to exhaustion. 

Accustom yourself to breathe fully 
and deeply from the abdomen. Take 
half a dozen deep breaths before you be- 
gin your speech, and during your speech 
seize every opportunity afforded by the 
54 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

pauses to replenish your lungs. Speak 
upon full lungs as much as possible. 

Frequently remind yourself to bring 
all of your breathing apparatus into 
play. In this way you can make your 
public speaking an invigorating exercise. 
Form the habit of breathing deeply in 
your daily activities, so that it will 
eventually become automatic. . 

2. Cultivate deliberateness of speech. 
— This will confer inestimable advan- 
tages upon you as a speaker. It will 
convey to the audience the impression 
that you are carefully weighing your 
words, that you are “thinking on your 
feet,” and that you have a discrimin- 
ating mind. 

The audience will place a higher valu- 
ation upon ideas which you express 
slowly. They will naturally share your 
appraisement of your own thoughts. 
They will also give you credit, as a de- 
55 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


liberate speaker, for making your ideas 
clear to them. 

Moreover, a deliberate style of speak- 
ing will tend to safeguard you from such 
common mistakes as slovenly pronun- 
ciation, indistinctness, monotony, vague- 
ness, stumbling over difficult combina- 
tions of words, and hastily considered 
statements. 

There are times, of course, when cer- 
tain ideas and illustrations will require 
rapidity of utterance. Rate, pitch, and 
force must necessarily be appropriate to 
the thought and sentiment. But such oc- 
casions’ are not likely to be frequent, 
hence for the greater part of a speech 
a deliberate style will be most desirable. 

3. Keep clearly in mind the chief pur- 
pose of your speech . — What do you wish 
to accomplish? What specific impres- 
sion do you desire to make upon others ? 
WTiat purpose when actually achieved 
56 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

will constitute the real success of your 
speech? 

These points definitely settled in your 
mind will inspire you to increased effort. 
Knowing your goal you will be most 
likely to travel directly toward it. Con- 
centrated upon a great leading idea, 
clearly and definitely outlined in your 
mind, you will not be readily diverted 
from your purpose. 

Furthermore, when you have a well- 
defined object in view it will increase 
your feeling of self-confidence. It will 
prevent you from thinking too much 
about yourself, so that you can direct 
your powers and resources to the one 
purpose to be achieved. 

The skilful marksman takes definite 
aim. As someone has well said, a proper 
aim in speaking is as vital to results 
as it is in shooting squirrels. Aim at 
nothing, and you know in advance what 
57 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

you are likely to hit. It is foolish to 
shoot into the air if you would hit some- 
thing on the ground. 

You will do well to remember that this 
quality of definiteness must be in your 
speech from its inception, — from the 
moment you begin to gather material for 
it and to set it down clearly in writing, — 
in order to make it a natural and in- 
evitable part of your delivery. 

4. Make your gestures significant . — 
When you use a gesture it should be for 
a definite purpose. It may emphasize, 
illustrate, or otherwise enhance the 
clearness and effectiveness of your 
thought, but it should not be used merely 
for ornament. 

The number of gestures will depend 
upon the nature of your subject and the 
occasion. Good taste will be your best 
guide. There are some speeches of great 
feeling and purpose which demand much 
58 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

gesture ; while other speeches, comprised 
mainly of simple statements, require lit- 
tle action. 

A safe rule is to be sparing in your 
use of gesture. A gesture that is too 
often repeated loses its force. It is dis- 
pleasing and often confusing to an au- 
dience to watch a speaker in almost con- 
tinuous action. The quieter method, in 
which a gesture is used only occasionally 
and significantly, conveys an impression 
of self-control and power in reserve. 

If your present tendency is to employ 
gesture too frequently, try to restrain 
and subdue it. A corrective exercise for 
this purpose is to stand before a looking- 
glass, where you can keep vigilant watch 
over yourself, and read or recite aloud 
a highly impassioned speech, all the 
while endeavoring to keep your body, 
head, and arms still. 

The following general rules will guide 
59 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

von in the intelligent use of gesture: 
Curves are more graceful than straight 
lines; use simple gestures to express 
simple ideas; use double hand gestures 
to express increased breadth, size, or 
power; use emphatic movements to en- 
force important ideas ; make all gestures 
appropriate to the thought and feeling. 

5. Do justice to all your audience . — 
At the beginning of your speech look 
directly in front of you so as to adjust 
yourself to the particular surroundings. 
Test the carrying power of your voice, 
as stated before, by talking to your most 
distant auditor. 

As you proceed, you will naturally 
turn from one side to the other, and in- 
clude within your vision the larger part 
of your audience. Make such turnings 
from the waist, and not by shifting the 
position of the feet. 

A right mental attitude toward your 
60 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 


audience plays an important part in the 
success of your speech. Do not look 
upon them as “a field of vegetables,’ ’ 
as someone has erroneously advised, but 
as intelligent, wide-awake, well-informed 
people. This relationship established 
between you and your audience is one 
of the secrets of persuasive eloquence. 

This is not incompatible with the sug- 
gestion to merge yourself into your sub- 
ject. The realization that you are ad- 
dressing men and women of like 
thoughts and feelings as yourself will 
cause you to “let yourself go,” and to 
give forth your best powers of ex- 
pression. 

6. Be in earnest . You can not be 
really in earnest by aiming directly at 
earnestness. You will be in earnest 
when you are animated by strong con- 
viction of the truth and importance of 
your message. When duty is the impel- 
61 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

ling force in your speech you will speak 
earnestly and effectively. 

Earnestness is essential to success in 
speaking, since mind influences mind. 
What you would have your audience feel 
you must first experience yourself. Your 
earnestness communicates itself to them, 
so that they quickly respond to your 
mood. The feelings of sympathy, nobil- 
ity, indignation, courage, pride, tender- 
ness, sorrow, reverence, affection, good- 
will, hope, and admiration, are common 
to all men, and touch answering chords 
in' their hearts. 

You may convince your hearers of the 
truth of your message by intellectual 
means, but in order to persuade them 
to action you must also appeal to their 
emotions. And as with your other per- 
sonal powers, you can develop your emo- 
tions through judicious practise. 

The feeling of enthusiasm, when prop- 
62 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

erly guided, is a great force in public 
speaking. A short speech delivered with 
earnestness will be more productive of 
good results than a multiplicity of words 
uttered with calmness. If you are your- 
self seemingly unmoved or indifferent, a 
like effect will be made upon your 
hearers. 

7. Cultivate a modest manner. The 
advantage of beginning a speech mod- 
estly is that you are likely to surprize 
your audience when your full powers 
disclose themselves. A modest begin- 
ning leads the audience not to expect too 
much, and when later they realize the 
unsuspected power you have kept in re- 
serve, it inclines them in your favor. 

One of the most successful public 
speakers made a practise of always be- 
ginning a speech in a hesitating manner. 
But once he was well into his subject he 
spoke with exceptional fluency, and was 
63 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

apparently borne along npon a moving 
tide of eloquence. 

8. Learn the value of judicious paus- 
ing . There is no better way to empha- 
size an important word than to pause 
just before giving it expression. This 
prepares the mind of the hearer to re- 
ceive it with its full significance. Pauses 
are like windows to the sentences — they 
let the light in. 

The best recommendation of the pause 
in speaking is the fact that the most suc- 
cessful public speakers employ it effect- 
ively. Its proper use comes generally 
only after considerable experience and 
when self-confidence has been thor- 
oughly developed. 

The right use of the pause gives you 
frequent opportunity to replenish your 
lungs. It is also one of the most valu- 
able and indispensable aids to clearness 
64 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

of expression and the maintaining of 
poise in speaking. 

When you speak right on in headlong 
fashion, without due regard to pausing, 
you may easily fall into hastily consid- 
ered thought and careless expression. 
On the other hand, right pausing, cou- 
pled with deliberateness of style, will 
give an impressive character to your 
speaking. 

You can advantageously practise the 
art of pausing in your daily conversa- 
tion. As you form the habit of delib- 
erate speaking and frequent pausing in 
your daily speech, it will manifest itself 
without conscious effort in your public 
address. 

9. Speak with appropriate variety of 
expression . A monotonous tone of voice 
can make an otherwise good speech tire- 
some to an audience. By judiciously 
modulating your voice you will obviate 
65 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

much of the strain from which many 
speakers suffer. 

Variety of thought demands variety 
of expression for its proper interpreta- 
tion. Use various pitches of your voice, 
giving preference to the low keys. 
Change from soft to loud volume, high 
to low pitch, grave to bright feeling, in 
keeping with the thought. Practise, in- 
telligence, and experience, will best 
guide you in the matter of appropriate 
expression. 

10. Be natural. Discriminate between 
that which is natural and that which is 
merely habitual. You may have formed 
undesirable habits of speech which you 
erroneously think are natural to you, but 
which are the result of repeated prac- 
tise. 

Do not pretend to be what you are 
not. If you desire to make a highly sat- 
isfactory speech, you must submit your- 
66 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

self to the most rigid preparation 
and practise. Conscientiousness in the 
preparation of your speech will be one 
of the best assurances of a natural de- 
livery, since then you will be governed 
by sincerity and simplicity. 

FORGET YOURSELF WHEN SPEAKING 

The importance of self-forgetfulness 
in speaking was emphasized some years 
ago by an eminent authority, who said : 

“If a speaker is thinking of himself 
and not of his subject, of the manner and 
not of the matter, if his attention is oc- 
cupied with the modulation of his voice 
and the aptitude of his gestures, if an 
undercurrent of ambition to be grace- 
ful, striking, emphatic, runs through all 
his fine sentences and stimulated emo- 
tions, he will be shorn of genuine power. 
Especially if, m is almost certain to be 

67 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


the case, the audience detects the covert 
motive, their sense of reality is offended, 
they feel as if called to participate in an 
imposture, they become cold, guarded, 
unresponsive, and the speaker’s hold on 
them is gone.” 

Then he added these significant 
words : 

“For real, oratorical effect a speaker 
must never think of producing it. Re 
must lose himself in his subject, be for 
the moment his subject . His speech 
must, so far as manner is concerned, 
have the spontaneity, the abandonment, 
the self-forgetfulness of inspiration. 99 

Do not aim at being oratorical. Be 
yourself at your best, and if you have 
real oratory within you it will find na- 
tural and spontaneous expression. Be- 
member that nothing, however oratori- 
cal in character, can be more effective 
than earnest, genuine, sincere speech, 
68 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

and that when you possess this you have 
the supreme elements of eloquence. 

11. Cultivate self-confidence. How! 
By having a clear realization of your 
own powers. Belief in your ability and 
resourcefulness will stimulate your feel- 
ing of self-confidence, and the conscious- 
ness of reserve force will tend to make 
you equal to any occasion. 

The self-confidence I urge you to cul- 
tivate, if you do not already possess it, 
is not to be confused with egotism and 
boastfulness. Desirable self-confidence 
is the product of thoroughness, of con- 
sciousness of inner power, and a sense 
of personal dignity. It results from a 
determination to discharge your duty 
faithfully. 

A proper degree of self-confidence will 
enable you not only to direct all your 
best powers to the presentation of your 
subject as you have prepared it, but also 
69 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


to avail yourself of new ideas and sug- 
gestions which may arise at the moment 
of speaking. 

Self-confidence will be a great aid to 
you when you plunge headlong into an 
involved sentence not knowing precisely 
where it will end. But as you emerge 
successfully from such attempts, your 
self-reliance will gradually be increased. 

The basis of self-confidence is self- 
respect. Anything that dissipates your 
force, such as anger or violence, lessens 
your influence with others. When you 
show annoyance before an audience you 
suffer personal loss. There are some- 
times circumstances which may tax your 
patience and self-restraint to the utmost, 
but you should at all costs keep the audi- 
ence in your favor. 


TO 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 


Five Rules for Good Speaking 

There is no more helpful and inspiring 
counsel upon the subject of effective 
speaking than that of Dr. Richard 
Storrs. His words, addressed particu- 
larly to preachers, have a like applica- 
tion to you as a public speaker. Ponder 
his advice carefully. He says: 

“ (1) The physical vigor must be kept 
at its highest point. (2) The mind must 
be kept in a state of habitual activity, 
alertness, and energy. (3) The plan of 
the sermon (or speech) should be sim- 
ple, natural, progressive, and thorough- 
ly imbedded in the mind. (4) The 
preacher should have a distinct and en- 
ergetic appreciation of the importance 
of his subject. (5) He must speak for 
a purpose, having in view from the be- 
ginning of his discourse a definite end, 
71 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


the practical impression it is to make on 
the minds of his hearers / 7 

12. Common faults to he avoided. 
Many speakers are in doubt as to what 
to do with their hands when in repose. 
Do nothing with them. Let them rest 
naturally at the sides of the body. Then 
they will be ready for instant use when 
required. 

Do not clasp the hands in front of 
the body, nor rest them upon the hips. 
Avoid putting the hands up to the face, 
smoothing the hair, or adjusting the 
collar. Do not clasp the lapels of the 
coat as if to prevent yourself from run- 
ning away. Avoid all nervous move- 
ments of the head, hands, or feet. 

During the period of your speech do 
not drink anything. Constant sipping of 
water tends to aggravate a dry throat. 
It is preferable to take a drink of water 
half an hour before speaking, and should 
72 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

there still be dryness of the throat just 
before speaking, chewing a small piece 
of paper will produce a flow of saliva. 

There are many undesirable manner- 
isms, common even to experienced 
speakers, which you should sedulously 
avoid. Some of these are the slapping 
of the hands together, boring the palm 
of one hand with a finger of the other, 
stamping the foot, thrusting the fore- 
finger at the audience, grimacing, im- 
personating, and mimicking, as well as 
using exaggerated gesture and posture. 

Read the practical suggestions of this 
book at least once a day for a week, 
at the end of which time they should 
be deeply imprest upon your mind. 
They will help you greatly to improve 
your present style of speaking, both in 
conversation and in public, and in many 
practical ways enhance your personal 
power and influence. 

73 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk 

USEFUL SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 

The following passage for study is 
the closing part of a lecture delivered 
by Canon Frederick William Farrar, in 
New York City, December 3, 1885. 

In substance it is an exceptionally fine 
example of elevated thought. America 
is eloquently reminded of her opportun- 
ity and responsibility as the guardian of 
freedom and the leader in democratic 
ideals. 

You can practise this passage aloud 
with much benefit. When you have thor- 
oughly analyzed it so that you know its 
meaning and appreciate its significance, 
stand up and render it in clear-cut ani- 
mated style. 

Note the speaker’s felicitous use of 
quotation. Commit to memory similar 
extracts of your own choosing which you 
74 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

think will be of practical use to you in 
public speaking. 

Carefully observe the climactic effect 
of the repeated words, “I believe in 
the closing paragraph. This is one of 
the most approved and effective methods 
of many successful speakers. You can 
easily learn to employ it for yourself. 

As you practise from day to day, fre- 
quently turn your attention to your use 
of pitch, force, and inflection. Ask your- 
self, while in the act of speaking, “Is my 
pitch of voice right ? Too high? Too 
low? Does the force or power of my 
voice correctly and adequately express 
the thought? Do the inflections go up 
properly when the sense is suspended, 
and go down when the sense is com- 
pleted? Am I speaking clearly and ex- 
pressively?” 

These and similar questions will make 
you discriminating and thorough in your 
75 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


daily practise. Eemember, you will 
achieve eminently better results from 
ten minutes of conscientious daily prac- 
tise than from hours of spasmodic and 
indifferent effort. 

SPEECH FOR STUDY 

FAREWELL THOUGHTS ON 
AMERICA 

(An Extract) 

I have endeavored to emphasize the 
thought on which all your own greatest 
and best men have insisted, that the hand 
of God is preeminently manifest in your 
history; and the correlative thought, 
that there rests upon the American 
nation an immense burden of heaven- 
imposed responsibility. 

What is that responsibility? 

It is to combine the old with the new 
— the experience of the East with the 
76 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

daring of the West — “the long past of 
Europe with the long future of Amer- 
ica.” 

It is to guard the idea of Freedom as 
the fabled dragon guarded of old the 
very garden of the Hesperides — taking 
good heed that liberty be not confounded 
with license ; nor republican government 
with the shout of popular anarchy; nor 
freedom with the freedom to do wrong 
unpunished; nor manly independence 
with lawless self-assertion. It is to keep 
the equilibrium between stability and 
advance, between liberty and law. “As 
for me,” said Patrick Henry, in 1775, 
“give me liberty or give me death.” 

It is to work out the conception of 
Progress; to recognize that it is your 
duty not only to preserve, but to im- 
prove; to bear in mind that the living 
sap of to-day outgrows the dead rind 
of yesterday. You and your churches 
77 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


will have to decide whether, in the words 
of Castelar, yon will confound your- 
selves with Asia, “placing upon the land 
old altars, and upon the altars old idols, 
and upon the idols immovable theocra- 
cies, and upon the theocracies despotic 
empires; or whether by labor and by 
liberty you will advance the grand work 
of universal civilization.” Despots, 
whether priestly or secular, may they 
“stand still!” But 

“God to the human soul, 

And all the spheres that roll 
Wrapped by her spirit in their robes of 
light, 

Hath said, ‘The primal plan 
Of all the world and man 
Is Forward ! Progress is your law, your 
right !’ ” 

It is to work out a manly and intelli- 
gent correlation of religious tradition 
with the advancing knowledge of man- 
73 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

kind. The churches must show to the 
world the rare example of religious tol- 
erance; of many folds existing happily 
side by side in the one flock. The laity 
must teach their churches not to super- 
sede, but to supplement each other. 
They must beware of stagnant doctrines 
and stereotyped formulae. They must 
learn the spirit of those grand words 
in which John Robinson addrest the 
Pilgrim Fathers when they sailed from 
the shores of Europe: — “ I am per- 
suaded that the Lord hath more truth 
yet to come for us, yet to break forth 
out of His Holy Word. Neither Luther 
nor Calvin has penetrated into the coun- 
sel of God.” 

“New occasions teach new duties, 

Time makes ancient good uncouth; 
They must upwards still, and onwards, 
Who would keep abreast with Truth.’ ’ 


79 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


Judge Sewall set a noble example 
when, in 1696, he stood up in his pew 
in the Old South Church to confess his 
contrition for his share in the witchcraft 
delusion of 1692. 

That preacher of Georgia spoke wise 
words who, taunted with a change of 
opinion about slavery, said in a Thanks- 
giving sermon, “I have got new light. 
I now believe many things which I did 
not believe twenty years ago. ... If I 
live till 1900 I expect to believe some 
things which I now reject and to reject 
some things which I now believe; — and^ 
I shall not be alone.” 

It is, above all, to show the nations 
the true ideal of national righteousner 
Two centuries and a half have passed 
since Peter Bulkley addrest to his lit- 
tle congregation of exiles the memorable 
words: “There is no people but will 
strive to excel in something. What can 
80 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 

we excel in if not in holiness? If we 
look to numbers we are the fewest ; if to 
strength we are the weakest ; if to 
wealth and riches we are the poorest of 
all the people of God throughout the 
world. We can not excel nor so much as 
equal other people in these things, and 
if we come short in grace and holiness 
we are the most despicable people under 
heaven. Strive we therefore to excel, 
and suffer not this crown to be taken 
from us.” 

How has all this been reversed! In 
numbers you are now, or soon inevitably 
must be, the greatest; in strength the 
most overwhelming ; in wealth the most 
affluent of all the Christian nations 
throughout the world. In these things 
you not only equal other people, but ex- 
cel them. Why? Mainly, I believe, be- 
cause your fathers feared God. Shall 
America then dare to kick down that 


81 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

ladder, to spurn the low degrees by 
which she did ascend, and, despising 
the holiness which was once her single 
excellence, now in the days of her bound- 
less prosperity to make in the common 
life of her citizens a league with death 
and a covenant with hell? I do not for 
a moment believe it. I believe that she 
will be preserved from all such perils 
by the memories of the dead and the vir- 
tues of the living. I believe that she 
will cherish the pure homes which have 
never lost their ancient English dower 
of inward happiness. I believe that she 
will not suffer the wise voices of the 
holy and thoughtful few to be drowned 
in noisier and baser sounds. I believe 
that her aspirations will dilate and con- 
spire with the breezes from the sea 
which sweep the vast horizons of your 
territory. I believe that she will listen 
to the three great Angels of History, of 


HOW TO DELIVER A SPEECH 


Conscience, of Experience, which, as 
the great teachers of mankind, ever re- 
peat to us the eternal accents of the 
Moral Law. I believe that she will help 
to disenchant the nations of the horrible 
seductions of war, and of a peace 
crusht and encumbered under war-like 
armaments. I believe that she is linked, 
that she will ever desire to be linked, 
with us of the old home, in the golden 
yoke of amity, and that by the blessing 
of God’s peculiar grace, you with us and 
we with you, shall be enabled to “make 
all things anew” for the glory and hap- 
piness of mankind. Then shall hoary- 
headed selfishness receive its death- 
blow, and the vilest evils which have 
afflicted the corporate life of man 

“Shall live but in the memory of Time, 
Which like a penitent libertine shall 
start, 

Look back, and shudder at his former 
years.” 


83 











SPECIAL EXTRACTS FOR 

READING 

7 


» 


85 















SPECIAL EXTRACTS FOR 
READING 


PREPARE THOROUGHLY 

1. 4 4 Every extemporized discourse 
presupposes a preliminary operation of 
thought. The thought must have been 
well conceived, held, and grasped in a 
single idea which contains the whole sub- 
stance. Then, for the exposition of this 
idea, it must have been divided into its 
principal parts, or into other subordi- 
nate ideas as members of it, and then 
again into others still more minutely, 
until the subject is exhausted. This mul- 
titude of thoughts must be well ar- 
ranged, so that at the very moment each 
may arrive in the place marked out for 
it, and appear in its turn in the discourse 
87 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

to play its part and fulfil its function, the 
value of which consists in the ante- 
cedents which prepare and the conse- 
quences which develop it, as figures in 
an arithmetical operation have value in 
themselves and also by their position. 

Much intelligence is therefore re- 
quired for this preparatory labor, so 
useful in extemporization; or, in other 
words, for the elaboration of a plan, 
without which it would be risk to hazard 
on ground so dangerous and so slippery. 
The first condition of speaking is to 
know what is intended to be said, and 
the greater the intelligence employed in 
the preparation of the speech, and the 
more clearly it is conceived, the greater 
the probability of presenting it well to 
others or of speaking well. That which 
is well conceived is well enunciated .” — 
M. Bautain. 


88 


EXTRACTS FOR READING 
CULTIVATE SINCERITY 
2. “The young speaker will do well 
to notice that morality is better under- 
stood, at least in theory, than in former 
days, and that the public like sincerity 
on the part of a speaker. A life which 
shall illustrate what the orator seeks to 
enforce will add materially to his influ- 
ence . Some will ask — May not a recom- 
mendation be a good one tho the 
giver of it be bad? Yes ; but is it not an 
advantage when both are worthy? The 
public may accept good advice from men 
who will not take it themselves. But is 
it not the object of a wise rhetoric to 
increase the number of men who act 
themselves on the advice they give? If 
the public should be composed of men 
who hear only and never practise, who 
does not see that we may give over all 
exhortations of amendment? Mankind 
reason that that which is good for the 
89 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


public is good for individuals, since in- 
dividuals make up the public. And 
when it is seen that a man does not fol- 
low his own advice, it is concluded that 
either he is a simpleton, and conse- 
quently is not to be heeded, or that he 
is secretly conscious of some inapplic- 
ability in his own recommendations, and 
therefore to be suspected.’ ’ — George 
J. Holyoake. 

INFORM YOURSELF THOROUGHLY 

3. ‘ 4 Keep your eyes and ears open to 
receive all kinds of knowledge from all 
sorts of sources. Your information can 
not be too diversified. Observation will 
supply the most useful materials ; read- 
ing, the most various; reflection, the 
most profound. But you must be some- 
thing more than a mere recipient of im- 
pressions from without. These must be 
intimately revolved and recombined in 
9Q 


EXTRACTS FOR READING 


your hours of reflection and then they 
may be reproduced in other shapes as 
your own thoughts. Accustom yourself 
to think and give yourself time to think. 
There are many portions of the day 
which can be devoted to reflection with- 
out trying to make thought a business. 
If a man tells me that he habitually 
closes his book or lays down his pen, 
turns his face to the fire with his feet 
upon the fender and throws himself back 
in his easy-chair to think, he may say 
that he is thinking, and perhaps flat- 
ter himself with the belief that he 
is thinking ; but I know that he is 
only dreaming. The time for real re- 
flection is when you are taking that exer- 
cise in the open air, which I trust you 
never neglect and which is as needful 
to the accomplishment of a speaker as 
any other training. At such seasons, 
prepare yourself by steady thought for 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


that which is the next process in the 
acquisition of the art. 

And that is, writing. You must habit- 
ually place your thoughts upon paper, 
first, that you may do so rapidly; and, 
secondly that you may do so correctly. 
When you come to write your reflections , 
you will he surprized to find how loose 
and inaccurate the most vivid of them 
have been and what terrible flaws there 
are in your best arguments . You are 
thus enabled to correct them and to com- 
pare the matured sentence with the rude 
conception of it . You are trained by 
this practise to weigh your words and 
assure yourself that they precisely em- 
body the idea you desire to convey. You 
can trace uncouthness in the sentences 
and dislocations of thought of which you 
had been unconscious before. It is far 
better to learn your lesson thus upon 
paper, which you can throw into the fire 
92 


EXTRACTS FOR READING 


unknown to any human being, than to 
be taught it, in the presence of the pub- 
lic, by an audience who are not always 
very lenient critics.”— Edwabd W. Cox. 

DEVELOP ACCURACY 

4. “One main portion of intellectual 
education, of the labors of both school 
and university, is to remove the original 
dimness of the mind’s eye, to strengthen 
and perfect its vision; to enable it to 
look out into the world right forward, 
steadily and truly ; to give the mind 
clearness, accuracy, precision ; to enable 
it to use words aright, to understand 
what it says, to conceive justly what it 
thinks about, to abstract, compare, ana- 
lyze, divide, refine and reason correctly. 
There is a particular science which takes 
these matters in hand, and it is called 
logic; but it is not by logic — certainly 
not by logic alone — that the faculty I 
93 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


speak of is acquired. The infant does 
not learn to spell and read the hues upon 
his retina by any scientific rule; nor 
does the student learn accuracy of 
thought by any manual or treatise. The 
instruction given him, of whatever kind, 
if it be really instruction, is mainly, or 
at least preeminently this, — a discipline 
in accuracy of mind.” — Cardinal New- 
man. 


THE VALUE OF SILENCE 

5. “Paradoxical tho it may seem, 
there is an eloquence and a power in 
silence which every speaker should seek 
to cultivate. A man who knows how and 
when to listen is not only open to in- 
crease his store of knowledge, but will 
often receive credit for wisdom he does 
not really possess. The habit of silence 
gives time for necessary meditation and 
for accumulating power for subsequent 
94 


EXTRACTS FOR READING 

use . It makes one acquainted with the 
inner life. It is the most direct means 
of developing spiritual power. A silent 
man is usually a thinking man. He takes 
time to think, to test his ideas before 
giving them expression, to formulate his 
thought into clear and logical sequence. 
He obeys the admonition to ‘ Think 
before you speak,’ consequently his 
thoughts when exprest carry weight be- 
cause of their clearness and maturity. 
There are far too few of these silent men 
who take time to think, and too many 
who talk first and think afterward.” — 
Grenville Kleiser. 

CULTIVATE YOUR POWERS 

6. “The truth is, those persons who 
talk so much about ‘born orators,’ and 
what they call ‘a natural and artless 
eloquence,’ are guilty of a transparent 
fallacy. Nature and art, so far from 
95 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


antagonizing each other, are often the 
self-same thing. True art , — art in the 
sense of an instrument of culture , — is 
drawn directly from all that can he 
learned of the perfect in man’s nature, 
and is designed not to repress or extin- 
guish, hut to develop, train, and extend 
what he already possesses . Nearly every 
person who has what is called the ‘gift* 
of oratory, finds that he has great de- 
fects associated with his native gift. 
He has a harsh or feeble voice, an indis- 
tinct articulation, a personal, provincial, 
or national twang, an awkward manner, 
a depraved taste ; and instead of devel- 
oping the divine faculty he has been 
laboring to thwart and obstruct it. What 
is more natural than that he should en- 
deavor to overcome these defects, or, 
if he can not get rid of them altogether, 
at least to diminish them by vocal exer- 
cises, by studying the best models, and 
96 


EXTRACTS FOR READING 

by listening to the advice of a judicious 
friend? But what is all this but a resort 
to art, or the deliberate application of 
means to an end? — yet, is it art that is 
in the slightest degree inconsistent with 
nature? If so, then every civilized, 
every thoughtful and moral man, who 
represses his natural impulses to be in- 
dolent, improvident, rude, and selfish, is 
so far unnatural. It is evident, there- 
fore, that in admitting to the fullest ex- 
tent the necessity of a natural manner 
in speaking we do not exclude culture / ’ 
— William Mathews. 


97 






QUINTILLIAN’S SECRETS OF 

ORATORY 



99 



QUINTILLIAN’S SECRETS OF 
ORATORY 


THE GREAT POSSIBILITIES OF 
MEDITATION 

Meditation borders on the nature 
of writing, receives its strength from it, 
and is a something lying between the 
labor of composition and the hazard of 
extempore speaking. Its utility is very 
considerable, and there are frequent oc- 
casions for it ; for we can not write al- 
ways, nor everywhere, but meditation is 
available at most times and in most 
places. In a few hours it gets a com- 
prehensive view of even great and im- 
portant causes. If our sleep is inter- 
rupted at night, darkness makes our 
meditation more active. During the day, 
in the midst of our occupations, it finds 
101 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


some leisure for contemplating its ob- 
ject, seldom or never remaining idle; 
and not only assigns to things their due 
order, which is doing a great deal, but 
also joins words, and so fits together all 
parts of the discourse that nothing but 
writing it out seems lacking. And thus 
it remains more tenaciously riveted in 
the memory, since it can not be let to 
slip away by the security of writing. 

STEPS IN ACQUIRING MENTAL POWER 

But we can not attain suddenly nor 
soon that force of thought which is re- 
quired for profound meditation. First, 
by much practise in writing, we must 
bring our style to so proper a consist- 
ence that directly and without impedi- 
ment it may follow the flow of thought ; 
secondly, we must by degrees accustom 
our mind to take in at first only as much 
as it can give a faithful account of, and, 
102 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 

next, to proceed by so moderate an in- 
crease that the labor may not seem in 
any way painful; thirdly, there should 
be additional increase, with the same 
precautions ; lastly, all these particulars 
are to be embodied and kept together 
by practise and much exercise, and as 
this depends in a great measure on mem- 
ory, I therefore say here but a part of 
what I should, reserving the rest for 
its proper place. From what has been 
said, however, it may appear that when 
there is no deficiency or obstacle in point 
of genius, one may, by assiduity of ap- 
plication, attain to the expressing of the 
things he conceived in his mind, as truly 
and as faithfully as those he had writ- 
ten and committed to memory. 

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF NEW IDEAS 

Suppose, now, that something bright, 
some new idea, should spring up while 
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HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

we are speaking, should we so scrupu- 
lously adhere to what we have written 
as not to make room for it? An oration, 
however elaborately composed, is not 
to be so highly prized as to give no 
admission even to a gift of fortune, — 
the contrary is evident, by our often in- 
serting a sudden afterthought in what 
we have written. All exercise of this 
kind should, therefore, be so ordered 
that we might easily digress from, and 
return to, it at pleasure ; for if, on the 
one hand, our principal care ought to be 
to come prepared from home, in order to 
speak in public; on the other, it would 
be an evident piece of folly to reject a 
gift which the circumstances of time 
offer for our service. Let our thoughts 
and meditation be so far prepared that 
fortune may not have it in her power to 
frustrate, but to help us. 


104 . 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 
THE VALUE OF MEMORY 
It will be so if strong and faithful 
memory makes whatever we have medi- 
tated on, to flow from us with an air of 
security, yet unless this meditation is 
well digested, and sinks deep into the 
mind, we shall show pain and embar- 
rassment in expressing ourselves, just 
as if we depended solely upon memory, 
and if this should be the case, I would 
prefer an extempore rashness to inco- 
herence and suspension of thought. 
Nothing has a worse effect than an un- 
seasonable recollection. When eager to 
recall the ideas which fly from us, we 
lose those which present themselves, and 
seek things rather from memory than 
from our subject. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR EXTEMPORE 
SPEAKING 

The ability to speak extempore is 
the greatest advantage we receive from 
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HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


our studies, and, as it were, a very sim- 
ple reward for our long and painful 
labor. He who has not acquired it will 
do well in my opinion to renounce the 
duties of the bar, and employ the talent 
of writing which remains to him rather 
upon something else. For I can hardly 
believe that a man of integrity would 
profess to assist those who should want 
his help, when he was incapable of as- 
sisting them in any imminent danger. 
Such behavior would be not unlike that 
of a pilot who should show a weather- 
beaten ship a harbor at a distance where 
it could not enter but in a calm. There 
are, indeed, very many and pressing oc- 
casions for pleading without prepara- 
tion, either before magistrates, or when 
a cause is brought to trial before the day 
fixt for it; and if there be then an ab- 
solute necessity of saving not only a 
good citizen, but a parent, a friend, who 
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SECRETS OF ORATORY 

implores the help of our ministry, and 
is likely to be ruined unless at that in- 
stant assisted, shall we stand mute, ask 
for time, and seek retreat and silence 
until words are fabricated in his defense, 
are committed to memory, and our voice 
and lungs are prepared for pleading? 
No sufficient reason, I think, can be given 
why an orator should be unprepared in 
any emergency. 

RISING TO THE EMERGENCY 

How must it fare with him when he is 
to answer an opponent ? Often what we 
have supposed to be the opponents view 
of the matter, and against which we 
have calculated our speech, we find our- 
selves much mistaken in, and suddenly 
the whole cause is changed. As a navi- 
gator shifts his manner of steering ac- 
cording as the winds set in upon his ship, 
so an orator must shift about according 
107 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


to the diversity of causes he has to plead. 
Of what etfect would so much practise 
in writing be, so much reading, and so 
long a course of study, if the same dif- 
ficulties remained that occurred in the 
beginning? That man indeed must be 
thought to have labored in vain, who is 
constantly obliged to put himself to the 
same pains. I do not make these reflec- 
tions that the orator should prefer ex- 
tempore speaking, but that he occasion- 
ally might speak so. 

PREPARING FOR AN UNEXPECTED 
SPEECH 

We shall acquire this talent chiefly in 
this manner : Let us first be acquainted 
with the way of speaking, which may be 
compared to the running of a race, which 
can not be performed unless we know 
whence and where we are to run. So it is 
not enough to know the parts of judicial 
108 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 

causes, or the disposing of questions in 
proper order, tho these are a princi- 
pal consideration ; but also what is first, 
and what follows, they being so linked 
together by nature that they can not be 
altered or taken asunder without causing 
confusion. He who is learning the way 
in which he is to walk will no doubt 
suffer himself to be guided by the order 
of things as they occur, for which reason 
persons of even small practise will easily 
see how a narration is to be conducted. 
Next, they will know what questions 
arise on every point, that they may not 
hesitate as to what they are to say, nor 
be distracted by thoughts foreign to 
their matter, nor confound this matter 
by jumbling things together, jumping as 
it were, here and there and stopping no- 
where. Lastly, they must keep within 
certain bounds, which can not be done 
without division. Thus having effected 
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HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

to the best of their ability whatever they 
set out to do, they may think they have 
come to the end. 

VALUE OF STUDY AND PRACTISE 

These are the documents of art; but 
it is study, as I have said, that must 
furnish us with a copiousness of the 
best expressions, and our manner of 
speaking must be so formed by much 
and accurate composition that what we 
even give utterance to suddenly might 
appear as if it were written. In short, 
when we have written much, we shall be 
able to speak much; for custom and ex- 
ercise contribute most to facility, and 
if there be an intermission in them, 
tho but short, that readiness not only 
will be retarded, but a kind of torpor 
will ensue and may prevail. 


110 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 


THINKING AHEAD IN YOUR SPEECH 

Tho we stand in need of a certain 
natural mobility of mind, that while we 
express what is next to our thoughts, 
we may be able to construct what lies 
further off and keep our voice always 
provided with a succession of formed 
thoughts, yet scarcely can either nature 
or art divide the mind on so manifold a 
business as to attend at once to inven- 
tion, disposition, elocution, the order oil 
words and things, and what is to be said 
on the present occasion, the next and the 
following, together with the particular 
attention which is to be paid to voice, 
pronunciation and gesture. A sort of 
intuitive and anticipating view is, there- 
fore, quite necessary for these purposes, 
and the further parts be surveyed as the 
foregoing are pronounced, so that, until 
we come to the end, we may proceed as 
ill 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


much by looking before ns as by stepping 
forward. This forecast, then, is to be 
regarded as highly necessary, unless, re- 
gardless of it, we are willing to hesitate 
every moment and utter things by scraps 
and halves, like persons interrupted by 
sobs. 

A HELPFUL MENTAL HABIT 

There is a certain habit which we can 
not account for, and for which we are 
in no way indebted to reflection, in con- 
sequence of which, among other in- 
stances, we find the hand glide in writing, 
and the eyes see, in reading, several 
lines at once, with their stops and breaks, 
and they have read what follows before 
the tongue has articulated what goes 
before. The wonders in dexterity of 
hand, which we see performed by artists, 
have no other principle, as it is by a 
certain sleight of hand that the things 
which they cast away from them seem 
112 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 

again to come into their hands, and fly 
off where they command them. 

But we shall not. profit by this habit 
except so far as the art I spoke of has 
paved the way for it, so that for which 
no reason can be assigned may, not- 
withstanding, appear as grounded on 
reason. For none shall seem to me to 
make a speech, unless they do it with 
order, ornament, and elocution, and for 
this reason I shall never be an admirer 
of the connection of a tumultuous or 
fortuitous harangue, which I have 
noticed to have been extremely well 
performed, even amidst the fierce ob- 
jurgations of women. Heat and spirit 
may be productive of a speech attended 
with better success than a studied one, 
and on these occasions, as Cicero relates, 
the ancients were accustomed to say 
that a god spoke from the mouths of 
men. 

113 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


GETTING A CLEAR CONCEPTION OF 
THE SUBJECT 

But without having recourse to the 
interposition of a deity, the reason for 
this is plain, and so much the more as 
passions, when the mind is strongly af- 
fected by them, and images, when recent, 
manifest themselves by lively and rapid 
expressions which sometimes cool in the 
slowness of composition, and if put off 
for any time may not return. When an 
unhappy, scrupulous care about words 
stops us short at every step we take, 
we can no longer expect that volubility 
of speech, and tho single expressions 
may seem well chosen, yet are not fluent, 
they will seem painful. We therefore 
must endeavor to have a clear conception 
of things by means of the images before 
spoken of, placing all that we have to 
say concerning persons and questions 
before our eyes, and entering into all 
114 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 

the passions of which our subject can 
well admit. For it is the sensibility of 
the heart and perturbation of the mind 
that make us eloquent, and therefore 
the illiterate do not lack words when 
stimulated to speak through passion or 
interest. We must strive, also, to direct 
the attention of the mind not to any 
object singly, but to many together, that, 
if we cast our eye upon any point of 
view, we may be able to see all in a 
direct line, and about it, and not the last 
only but as far as the last. 

INCENTIVES TO THE ORATOR 

The shame of stopping short, and the 
desire of being applauded, are wonderful 
incentives for the orator’s acquitting 
himself to advantage; and it may seem 
wonderful, since writing delights in 
privacy and can not abide a witness, how 
extempore speaking feels itself animated 
lie 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

by a full auditory, as a soldier is ani- 
mated to battle by seeing the standards 
of the army ranged and mustered to- 
gether. For with whatever difficulty 
thoughts may come, the necessity of 
speaking compels the finding of them, 
and the desire to please seconds and in- 
creases the efforts. So much do all 
things look to a reward, that even elo- 
quence, tho containing much pleas- 
ure in itself, is vastly taken with the 
present fruits of praise and reputation. 

THE DANGER OF OVERCONFIDENCE 

No one, however, ought to be so con- 
fident of his ability as to hope that im- 
mediately on the first trial he shall ac- 
quire this talent. What I inculcated 
concerning meditation, may be applica- 
ble here, that the talent of extempore 
speaking should proceed gradually from 
small beginnings to its greatest perfee- 
116 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 

tion, to which nothing can contribute so 
much as practise. I would not have so 
much confidence placed in this faculty 
as to exclude at least a short time, which 
is scarcely ever lacking, and which is 
always allowed in trials and pleadings at 
the bar, for reflecting on what we are to 
say. It would indeed seem that no one 
can plead a cause of which he knows 
nothing, yet we see some declaimers so 
perversely vain as to pride themselves 
on being able to speak in a dispute if 
they only learn what the subject is, and 
what is more trifling and buffoon-like, 
they will ask you with what word you 
would choose they should begin. But 
eloquence can not help deriding, in her 
turn, those who are such a disgrace to 
her; as in reality from the desire of 
appearing learned to fools, they must 
themselves appear fools to the learned. 

But if it so happened that we were 
117 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


obliged to speak in public without any 
preparation, then would we have occa- 
sion for an extraordinary presence of 
mind, and our whole attention being 
engrossed by things, we should, for the 
present, relax somewhat in the care of 
words if it were not practicable to at- 
tend to both. At such a time a slower 
pronunciation , and a manner of keeping 
our words, as it were, in suspense, would 
afford time for reflection; but this must 
be so managed that we may seem to 
think, and not to hesitate . So we do, 
when we are sailing out of port, if the 
wind drives us forward and our rigging 
is not yet quite ready; afterward, as 
we proceed, we lay our cables in order 
and hoist our sails for a favorable gale. 
It is better to act in a like manner with 
our speech, rather than to deliver our- 
selves up at once to a torrent of useless 
words and suffer ourselves to be swept 
away, as it were, by a storm. 

118 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 
PRACTISE MUST NOT BE NEGLECTED 

But this talent is preserved with no 
less pains than it is acquired. An art 
once learned is not forgotten, but it does 
not follow that expertness will continue 
after the disuse of it. Writing, when 
neglected for some time, will lose some 
of its former readiness; so with the 
talent of extempore speaking; it is ac- 
quired by practise, and can be retained 
only by practise. The best way of prac- 
tising is to speak daily on some subject 
or other, in the presence of many people 
to whose judgment and opinion we pay 
deference; for it seldom happens that 
one sufficiently respects himself, else we 
should speak alone rather than not 
speak at all. 

A PROFITABLE MENTAL EXERCISE 

There is another exercise for thought, 
which is to meditate on our subject, and 
treat it mentally from the beginning to 
U9 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

the end. This is practicable at all times, 
and in all places, if we have nothing else 
to do, and is in some measure of greater 
benefit than the former suggestion, be- 
cause in the one, things are disposed 
with more accuracy, whereas in the 
other, our whole solicitude is to continue 
the thread of the discourse. Again, the 
former is of more service by strengthen- 
ing the voice, forming the pronunciation 
and gesture, and the motions and atti- 
tudes the orator puts himself into, by the 
tossing about of his hands and the 
stamping of his foot, must give life and 
spirit to his action. 

But we should study always and 
everywhere . There is scarcely a day 
so taken up with business but some- 
thing may be gained from it for the sake 
of study, or but may have some moment 
snatched from it for the purpose of 
writing, reading, or speaking. C. Carbo, 
120 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 

even in his tent, and amid the horrors 
of war, was accustomed to exercise him- 
self in the talent of speaking. I should 
not forget, also, that Cicero upon all 
occasions advises us not to neglect our 
manner of speaking, so that what we 
say in regard to the subject may be as 
proper, as correct, and as accurate as 
possible. 

THE RELATION OF WRITING AND 
SPEAKING 

But we must never do more writing 
than we do speaking extempore. Thus 
weight will be preserved in what we say, 
and that light facility, floating, as it 
were, on the surface, will thereby be- 
come heavier and run deeper. Just so 
vine-dressers cut off the shortest roots 
of a vine, which may draw it to the sur- 
face of the ground, that the lower roots 
may gain strength by striking deep. And 
for all I know, both exercises, under the 
121 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

direction of care and study, may be a 
mutual help to each other, so that by 
writing we may speak with more exact- 
ness, and by speaking, write with more 
ease. We ought to write as often as 
we can, and if not at leisure for so doing, 
we should meditate, but if neither can 
be done, the orator must use his best 
endeavors to guard against surprize 
and to keep his client from appearing to 
be without assistance. 

Some orators, who had much business 
on their hands, usually wrote little more 
than the principal heads, and the exor- 
dium; other points they fixt in their 
memory by meditation only, and to any- 
thing coming up suddenly they replied 
extempore. I greatly approve of those 
short annotations which may be held 
in the hand, and upon which it is allow- 
able now and then to cast one’s eye. I 
can not say that I like to note down all 
122 


SECRETS OF ORATORY 

the heads of that on which we are to 
speak. This security begets a remiss- 
ness of thought during the action, and 
tears asunder, and deforms, the dis- 
course. I think, indeed, that nothing 
ought to be written when we intend to 
speak extempore. For being called back 
to that which we have set down in writ- 
ing, hinders us in trying our present 
fortune; and the mind fluctuating be- 
tween both, when it loses sight of what 
is written, can not well recover itself by 
seeking after something new. 


123 




THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 


125 



THE ART OF ELOQUENCE * 

BY JOHN CAIRD 

Of all intellectual agencies, the fac- 
ulty of public speaking is that which, in 
proportion to its practical influence and 
importance, has received the least at- 
tention in our educational system. Of 
course, seeing that the first condition of 
good speaking is that the speaker should 
have something to say, indirectly all 
education is an education of the orator. 
External gifts of voice and manner, 
apart from more solid requirements, 
may deceive and dazzle the unwary and 
make a slender stock of ideas go a long 
way with an uneducated or half-educated 

* Delivered at the University of Glasgow, Novem- 
ber 9, 1889. 


127 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


auditory. But such superficial qualities 
in the long run lose their effect, even on 
uncritical ears, and to the better in- 
structed may even become offensive as 
a kind of tacit insult to their judgment. 
Knowledge and a disciplined intelligence 
therefore constitute the first condition of 
effective speaking. 

But if it be true, as we must all admit, 
that the possession of knowledge does 
not imply the power of imparting it, 
that profound thinkers and ripe scholars 
may be poor and ineffective speakers; 
if experience proves that men who are 
strong in the study may be weak on the 
platform or in the pulpit, and that even 
men whose books evince a masterly 
grasp of their subject may be distanced 
as teachers or preachers or public speak- 
ers by persons of greatly inferior gifts 
and attainments — then it is obvious that 
something more than the possession of 
128 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

ideas goes into the making of the orator , 
and that that system of education is in- 
complete which confines itself to the ac- 
quirement of knowledge and neglects the 
art of oral expression . 


IMPORTANCE OF PRACTISE IN 
SPEAKING 

Everyone knows of the immense pains 
that were bestowed on the cultivation of 
this art in ancient times. ‘ 4 Ancient ora- 
tory/ ’ writes Professor Jebb, “is a fine 
art, an art regarded by its cultivators 
as analogous to sculpture, to poetry, to 
music.” Already before the art of 
rhetoric had become an elaborate sys- 
tem, the orators were accustomed to pre- 
pare themselves for their task, first in 
composition, then in delivery. 4 ‘ Great is 
the labor of oratory,” says Cicero, “as 
is its field, its dignity, its reward.” And 
tho it may be true in this as other 
129 i 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


arts, nature and original aptitude count 
for much, and the highest eminence is 
attainable by few, yet moderate success 
is not beyond the reach of average abil- 
ity, industriously and carefully culti- 
vated. 

How then shall we explain the com- 
parative neglect into which, in our mod- 
ern educational system, this art has 
fallen ; how shall we account for the fact 
that whilst every other art has its prin- 
ciples and methods, its long and labor- 
ious discipline, its assiduous study of the 
best models, the acquisition of this art 
is for the most part left to chance or to 
such proficiency as can be gained in 
course of time and at the expense of 
long-suff ering audiences ? How is it that 
in our schools and colleges everything is 
done for the attainment of knowledge, 
and nothing at all for the capacity of 
communicating it? 


130 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

ORAL TEACHING NECESSARY 
At first thought we might suppose 
that this neglect is to be ascribed to the 
diffusion of literature and the growing 
influence of the press. Oral teaching, 
we might naturally suppose, would count 
for more in times when there was almost 
no other access to the popular mind, and, 
with the spread of education and the 
multiplication of books, would gradually 
be superseded by instruction conveyed 
in a literary form. That the gift of elo- 
quence should be rated high, and should 
be sedulously cultivated in an age be- 
fore books appeared in printed form, or 
when books were few and costly and 
readers a very limited class, and when 
for the great mass of men the preacher 
or public speaker was in himself all that 
books, newspapers, magazines, pam- 
phlets, popular manuals, organs of po- 
litical parties and religious sects, the 
131 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


vast and varied mass of publications 
that are constantly pouring forth from 
the press, are constantly for us in the 
present day — that at such a period the 
faculty of oral address should be su- 
premely important is only what we 
might expect. But as education ad- 
vances, and ideas in the more exact and 
permanent form of printed matter 
suited to every variety of taste and in- 
telligence, become almost universally ac- 
cessible, we might also expect that the 
speaker’s function, if it did not become 
extinct, would fall into the background; 
and also that, in so far that it survived, 
the improved taste of society would tend 
at once to diminish the quantity and 
raise the quality of public speaking. 


£ 


132 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 


SPEAKING A POTENT FACTOR IN 
NATIONAL LIFE 

How groundless such expectations 
would prove you need not be told. The 
vocation of the speaker has not only lost 
nothing, but has enormously gained in 
public consequence with the gradual 
diffusion of knowledge in printed form. 
There never was a time, in modern his- 
tory at least, when it constituted so 
potent a factor in the national life as in 
our own day. There never was a time 
when the gift of oratory or the talent 
for debate brought so much influence, 
social, political, ecclesiastical, or when 
he who was endowed with it found the 
power of ready utterance so much in 
demand. In this country , at least , the 
man who can speak is under a perpetual 
pressure to exercise his gift . Lecture 
platforms, public meetings, associations 
for all sorts of objects; festivals, ban- 
133 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

quets, ceremonials, conferences, anniver- 
saries, meetings to offer testimonials to 
retiring, or to organize memorials to 
departed, officials and celebrities, great 
and small — public occasions of all sorts, 
in short, create a perpetual call on his 
power of utterance. Nor is the demand 
confined to public occasions. The rage 
for oratory pursues him in his hours of 
relaxation, and into the retreats of so- 
cial and private life. In the pauses of 
a railway journey admiring auditors 
insist on a modicum of their favorite 
stimulant. At a private dinner or a 
garden party, the reporter, note-book in 
hand, is either openly or furtively intro- 
duced; and, sometimes, it must be con- 
fest, not without his own connivance, 
opportunity is afforded to the oratorical 
celebrity to give the world another taste 
of his quality. 


134 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

THE TREND OF MODERN ORATORY 

Moreover, it is to be observed that, 
contrary to the natural anticipation I 
have just suggested, the public taste for 
public qualification does not become 
more fastidious with the progress of 
education. Public speaking, with rare 
exceptions, does not in our day improve 
in quality. The palmy days of oratory, 
when it was regarded as an art or on a 
level with painting, and sculpture, and 
poetry, when the severest canons of criti- 
cism were applied to it, when the great 
speaker cultivated his gift by laborious 
and varied discipline, speaking seldom, 
and only on occasions worthy of his 
powers, and grudging no pains to meet 
the claims of an exacting but apprecia- 
tive audience — these days are long 
passed away. How could it be other- 
wise? An epicure could not expect a 
chef in the culinary art to send up, day 
135 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


after day, at a momenta notice, a per- 
petual series of recherche (choice) 
viands; and from even men of highest 
abilities it would be too much to ask for 
the production of off-hand, extempore, 
oratorical feasts. Hence we need not 
wonder if, when we examine the speeches 
of even the most renowned purveyors of 
modern oratory, political and other, we 
should find that, in the best qualities of 
eloquence, in clearness of thought, pre- 
cision of aim, consecution of argument, 
force, aptitude, and elegance of expres- 
sion, they fall miserably short of the 
best types of ancient oratory; and that 
loose, slipshod, and ambiguous phrase- 
ology, involved and interminable sen- 
tences, sounding but empty declamation, 
perplexed and inconclusive argument, 
and the cheap impressiveness of appeals 
to vulgar prejudice and passion, should 
be then too common characteristics. 


136 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 


REASONS FOR DETERIORATION OF 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 

There are, however, some considera- 
tions which may serve to abate the 
severity of the censure we pass on these 
and other effects of modern oratory. 
Much, of course, depends on our canons 
of criticism. We must consider how far 
the blemishes on which we animadvert 
arise, not from the incapacity or care- 
lessness of the artist, but from the 
necessary limits and conditions of his 
art. It is obvious, for one thing, that 
we cannot apply the same standard, 
either as to matter or form, to written 
or spoken prose composition. It is even 
possible that the speaker who should 
aim at literary excellence, would be 
going on a false quest, and that the 
qualities which made his work good as 
literature would mar or vitiate it as 
oratory. A reported speech indeed be- 
137 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

comes literature, but it is not to be judged 
as such, but as a composition primarily 
addrest to the ear, and producing its 
effect, whether instruction or persua- 
sion, whether intelligent conviction or 
emotion and action, under the condition 
of being rapidly spoken and rapidly ap- 
prehended. 

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WRITING 
AND SPEAKING 

And this condition obviously implies 
that many qualities which are meritor- 
ious in a book or treatise — profundity or 
subtlety of thought, closeness and con- 
secution of argument, elaborate refine- 
ment and beauty of style, expression 
nicely adapted to the most delicate 
shades of thought — would not only in- 
volve a waste of labor in a spoken ad- 
dress but might mar or frustrate its 
effectiveness. A realistic painter who 
bestows infinite pains in copying the 
13S 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

form and color of every pebble on the 
bank, of brook or stream, and every 
reticulation of each leaf on the spray 
that overhangs it, not only squanders 
eff ort in achieving microscopic accuracy, 
but distracts by irrelevant detail the eye 
of the observer, and destroys the general 
idea or impression of the landscape, and 
a like result may attend elaboration of 
thought and fastidious nicety of form 
in a spoken composition. Such minute 
finish is either lost or unappreciated by 
the auditor, or, while he pauses to ad- 
mire it, his attention is diverted, and 
he loses the thread of the discourse or 
argument. 

Moreover, in studying a written com- 
position, a reader has no right to com- 
plain of compression or conciseness, or, 
on the other hand, of the space occupied 
in the development of the thought. If 
the sense be not immediately obvious, or 
if he fails to catch it on first reading, 


139 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


he can pause on a phrase or sentence, he 
can go back on a paragraph ; if the mat- 
ter sets his own mind working in a 
different track, he can suspend his read- 
ing to follow out the suggested train of 
thought, and then come back to take up 
the interrupted sequence of the author’s 
argument ; or again, if the strain on his 
attention or intelligence becomes too 
great, he can stop and resume his read- 
ing at will. 

But an oral address admits of no such 
delays and interruptions. The meaning 
must be understood at a first hearing or 
not at all y the discourse must be so 
framed that the mind of the hearer can 
move on at least as fast as that of the 
speaker ; and seeing you can not, on 
many occasions at any rate, shut up a 
speaker as you can a book, there are 
limits of length to which every public 
address must conform. 


140 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 


ESSENTIALS OF A SUCCESSFUL 
ADDRESS 

Obviously, therefore, oral composi- 
tion not only admits, but requires, cer- 
tain characteristics which would not only 
be illegitimate, but positive blemishes 
in matter intended to be read. Hearers, 
of course, vary in quickness of apprehen- 
sion, and no speaker is bound to be plain 
to auditors whose intelligence must be 
supplemented by a surgical operation. 
But tho it is true that greater con- 
densation is possible in addressing a 
select audience, an average audience 
can not be fed with intellectual pem- 
mican. 

To present the same thought in varied 
language or in diversified aspects; to 
make use of pictorial forms and abun- 
dant and familiar illustrations ; to go at 
a slow pace in argument ; to avoid rapid 
transitions and elliptical reasonings ; to 
141 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

arrest wavering attention at the cost 
even of irrelevancy and digression; to 
be not over-scrnpnlous as to grammati- 
cal and dialectic proprieties or a telling 
roughness that jars on a fastidious ear; 
to make sure not merely that the ideas 
are there, hut that they are so presented 
as to interest, strike, sustain the atten- 
tion, and tell on the heart and soul of 
the hearers — these and such as these 
must be aims present to the mind of the 
public speaker and controlling the form 
and substance of his talk. But all this 
implies that a certain latitude must he 
conceded to oral, which is denied to 
written composition, and that the very 
effectiveness and success of a speech 
may be due to its offenses against the 
strict canons of literary criticism. 

It is on this principle that we explain 
the fact that good speakers are often bad 
writers, and that the instances are rare 
142 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

in which men attain to great and equal 
excellence as authors and as orators. 

Following out a little further this 
comparison of speaking and writing, or 
of oral and written and prose composi- 
tion, there is another characteristic by 
reason of which, at first sight at least, 
we must ascribe an inferior value to the 
former, viz. : its evanescence. Written 
or printed matter has the advantage not 
only of greater precision but of greater 
permanence. A great book is a treasure 
for all time. The thinker passes away, 
but the thoughts that are enshrined in 
the literature of the past live on for the 
instruction and delight of succeeding 
generations. It is of the very essence 
of oratory, on the other hand, to be 
ephemeral. Its most brilliant effects, 
like the finest aspects of nature, vanish 
in the very moment of observation. They 
can no more be arrested than the light 
143 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


of morning on the mountain summit, or 
the flashing radiance on the river’s rip- 
pling waves, ‘ 1 a moment here, then gone 
forever.” The words that touch us by 
their pathos, or rouse us by their lofty 
eloquence, pass away like the successive 
notes of a song in the very act of falling 
on the enraptured ear. 

EFFECT OF CIRCUMSTANCES ON A 
SPEECH 

It may even be said that the best and 
noblest effects of oratory are more 
evanescent than those of music. The 
song may be sung, the great composer’s 
work that delights us at a first hearing 
may be repeated with equal or higher 
artistic skilL But often the power of 
spoken words depends on a combination 
of circumstances that can never be re- 
produced. The speech of a great states- 
man in debate — say in some critical 
emergency when the vote is about to be 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

taken that is to decide the fate of a min- 
istry, or the passing of a measure of re- 
form or of domestic or foreign policy on 
which the interests of millions are 
staked; or again, the speech spoken by 
an illustrious pleader in a great State 
trial, and before an audience composed 
of all the elements social and intellectual, 
that stimulate to their very highest an 
orator’s powers — in these and in many 
similar instances, the conditions of a 
great speech, and therefore the speech 
itself can never recur. A song may be 
sung again by the same or another voice, 
but the speech can never be respoken even 
by the voice that uttered it ; and that not 
merely because, under the inspiration of 
a great occasion, it may have reached the 
climax of its powers, but because the 
moving panorama of history never re- 
peats itself, never reverts again to the 
circumstances that gave it its power to 
145 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

affect us. And when the eloquent voice 
has itself been silenced, unlike the song, 
no other voice can reproduce its music. 
On the lips of ^Eschines it may seem 
still instinct with power, but all his art 
can not make us feel as we should have 
done, had we heard Demosthenes. 

THE POWER OF ORATORY 

But if we reflect for a moment on this 
distinction between oral and written 
composition, may not the very fact of the 
evanescence of the former suggest to us 
that there is in good oratory an element 
of power which written or printed mat- 
ter does not and can not possess? So- 
ciety will never, by reason of advancing 
culture and the diffusion of literature, 
outgrow the relish and demand for good 
speaking, for this, if for no other reason, 
that, besides outward circumstances and 
accessories, there is something in what 
146 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

we call eloquent speech which by no 
effort or artifice can be produced in liter- 
ary form. . . . 

There is a universal language, which 
long ere we have mastered the meaning 
of articulate words, carries with it for 
each and all of us its own interpretation, 
and with the potent aid of which the most 
consummate linguist can never dispense. 
Betwixt parent and child, in all lands 
and climes, the light in the eye, the smile 
on the cheek, the tones of the voice, the 
thousands of movements, touches, ca- 
resses of the enfolding arms, constitute 
a medium of communication intuitively 
understood, which not art but nature has 
taught. And this, too, is a language 
which we never outgrow, and which, in 
the hands of the one who knows how to 
use it, reinforces and in some measure 
transcends the capacities of oral ad- 
dress. The artifices of the printer, the 
147 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

notation of the musician, can no doubt 
do much to reduce this language of na- 
ture to formal expression. But even 
musical notation, tho much more 
complete than any which could be 
adapted to speaking, leaves — as any one 
knows who has ever listened to a great 
artist and compared his singing or play- 
ing with that of an inferior and common- 
place performer — an almost boundless 
latitude of expression to individual taste 
and feeling. 

THE OPPORTUNITIES OF THE 
SPEAKER 

And even more remarkable is this un- 
taught and unteachable power in the case 
of the speaker. What ingenuity could 
invent a written or printed notation that 
would represent the infinite, nicely dis- 
criminated, subtle shades of tone and 
accent which a great speaker instinct- 
ively employs, and which the ear and 
148 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

soul of a sympathetic auditory instinct- 
ively interprets. Even in deliberate 
speech, in exposition, narrative, calm and 
unimpassioned argument, there are in- 
numerable subtle changes by which cor- 
responding variations of thought are 
indicated. And when he rises to the re- 
gion of emotion, has not nature wedded 
its own symbols to the whole gamut of 
feeling, — entreaty, passion, pathos, grief 
subdued or unreprest, remonstrance, 
anger, scorn, sarcasm, reverence, awe, 
aspiration, homage, the agony of the 
penitent, the hope and trust of the be- 
liever, the mystical rapture of the saint, 
— has not each of these and a thousand 
other varieties of feeling its own appro- 
priate form of expression, so that, 
through the whole speech or sermon, a 
speaker can suffuse articulate language 
with his deeper, subtler, underlying and 
all potent language of nature ? Lacking 
149 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 

this organ of spiritual power a discourse 
may have every intellectual excellence, 
but it will fall short of the highest effect. 
For often 

4 ‘ Words are weak and far to seek 
When wanted fiftyfold, 

And so if silence do not speak, 

And trembling lip and tearful cheek, 
There’s nothing told.” 

WHY SPEECH IS MORE EFFECTIVE 
THAN WRITING 

In one word, the ultimate reason for 
the greater effectiveness of spoken than 
of written matter is simply this, that the 
latter is dead and silent, the former 
quick with the glow and vitality of in- 
telligence and emotion. In certain scien- 
tific observations you must eliminate 
what is called the personal equation ; but 
in good speaking, the personality of the 
speaker, instead of needing to be dis- 
counted, is that which lends its special 
150 


THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

value to the result. What reaches the 
auditor is not thought frozen into ab- 
stract form, but thought welling warm 
and fluent from a living source. In 
reading a book or report the whole bur- 
den of the process is thrown upon the 
reader. In listening to a spoken address 
more than half of the burden is borne 
by the speaker; or rather, activity and 
receptivity become almost indistinguish- 
able. Charged alike with the electric 
force of sympathy, the minds of speaker 
and hearer meet and mingle in a com- 
mon medium of intelligence and emotion. 


151 













VOICE-BUILDING EXERCISES 


153 



VOICE-BUILDING EXERCISES 


MONDAY 

PURITY AND CLEARNESS OF TONE 

Pronounce “ha” in a sharp, clear 
tone, endeavoring to convert every 'par- 
ticle of breath into voice . 

Practise first with rising inflections, 
then with falling inflections. 

Take a full deep breath between each 
sound. 

Aim at clearness and smoothness of 
tone. 

Concentrate your mind on the exer- 
cise and correct any breathiness in the 
tone. 

Apply the results of this practise to 
your daily conversation. 

Note: Clearness of tone depends 
upon the ability to apply the right 
amount of breath and to vocalize it 
entirely. 


155 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


TUESDAY 

RANGE OR COMPASS OF VOICE 

Pronounce the following long vowel 


sounds, first 
inflections : 

in 

rising, 

then 

in falling 

A 

E 

I 

0 

U 

E 

I 

0 

U 

A 

I 

0 

U 

A 

E 

0 

u 

A 

E 

I 

u 

A 

E 

I 

0 


At first use short inflections, but later 
extend the inflections so that they run 
from very low to very high pitch. 

Open your mouth well . 

The voice grows through use. 

Note: You can rapidly increase the 
music and modulation of your voice by 
daily practise in inflection as prescribed 
above. 


156 


VOICE-BUILDING EXERCISES 


WEDNESDAY 

DEPTH AND ROUNDNESS OF VOICE 

Pronounce the long vowel “0” in pro- 
gressive degrees of force, as follows : 

00OOOOO00 

Keep strictly to one key at a time. 
After several repetitions change to an- 
other key, and continue the exercise until 
you have covered all the ordinary pitches 
of your voice. 

Apply your mind directly to the ob- 
ject of rounding your voice out fully 
into the vowel “0.” 

Note : This exercise will produce most 
gratifying results in strengthening a 
weak voice, and in improving a strong 
one. 


157 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


THURSDAY 

RESONANCE OF VOICE 

Take a full breath, slightly purse the 
lips, and hum the letter “m” on a low 
pitch. 

Endeavor to increase the vibration at 
the lips and to divert the tone from the 
nose. Repeat the exercise on low and 
high keys. 

Repeat also in various degrees of 
force. 

Gradually try to increase the vocal 
vibration so that it spreads over the 
face. 

Note: Resonance of voice depends 
chiefly upon securing vibrations in the 
cavities of the mouth and throat, and 
by making them suffuse the face, 




158 


VOICE-BUILDING EXERCISES 


FRIDAY 

MUSIC AND BRILLIANCY OF TONE 

Pronounce the word “Bell,” opening 
the lips sharply on the letter “B,” and 
dwelling on the letter “1.” 

Feel the tone vibrate against the hard 
palate, — the bony arch just above the 
upper teeth, — and try to increase the 
vibrations. Repeat in various keys. 

Avoid breathiness. 

After some practise, vary the exercise 
in force, pitch, and inflection. 

Always inhale fully and deeply. 

Note: This is one of the best exercises 
for developing the musical tones of the 
speaking voice. 


159 


HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES 


SATURDAY 

POWER OR VOLUME OF VOICE 

Explode the voice abruptly on the fol- 
lowing elements, taking a full breath 
between each: 


Ba 

Be 

Bi 

Bo 

Boo 

Ga 

Ge 

Gi 

Go 

Goo 

Ha 

He 

Hi 

Ho 

Hoo 

Da 

De 

Di 

Do 

Doo 


Use long vowel sounds throughout. 

It is important to use your abdominal 
muscles fully in this exercise, so that 
there will be no strain at the throat. 

Avoid violence . 

Note: Explosive exercises rapidly 
develop power of voice. Judicious daily 
practise will yield surprizing results. 

160 


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